Li Qin looked at the attacking soldiers, but he didn't actually have much hope for this attack.
The Jurchens had already launched a strong attack once before, but it had not made any progress in the defense of the capital.
This proves that the man currently commanding the old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers, as well as the strong and capable Yu Gan, on the walls of the capital, is absolutely a talented individual.
It's simply impossible for him to take over the capital in one fell swoop with these people.
Even because of the presence of artillery, he was wary of those large siege engines used as siege weapons.
They've all lost hope.
Because although those things are powerful siege weapons, they move very slowly.
Before they even reach the walls of the capital, they'll probably be destroyed by the Wu army's cannons on the walls.
As for why he had little hope for these siege weapons and still wanted people to build them, why did he do so?
In reality, he's letting them try; he currently has a large number of craftsmen and manpower at his disposal.
Building some siege equipment won't cause any problems; it's a good opportunity to let Geng Zhixiang's army try it out.
Let's see if it works.
Sure enough, as the soldiers pushed the siege engines and began their assault, the cannons on the city walls roared again.
Dozens of shells were then fired straight at the siege equipment. Although most of them missed, a number of them hit their targets.
Those simplified siege weapons that were built fell apart immediately when hit.
The remaining soldiers pushed the rest of the siege equipment forward.
Shortly after the first shelling, the second shelling followed.
The large-scale siege engines, due to their slow movement and enormous size, all became easy targets.
over time.
After several rounds of bombardment, almost all the rudimentary versions of large siege engines that had been built were destroyed.
With the loss of siege equipment, the soldiers had no tools to climb the city walls. Even if they did manage to climb to the foot of the walls, they would become easy targets for the Wu soldiers on the walls.
They were splashed with gold juice by Wu Jun, and also hit by rolling logs and thunderstones.
In the end, they could only retreat to their camp in a sorry state.
They left behind a field of corpses outside the city walls of the capital, without achieving any results.
Faced with this result, Li Qin could only sigh.
As expected, thanks to the presence of cannons, large siege weapons could not get close to the walls of the capital.
Then Li Qin looked at the tunnels that were being dug, which were also one of his important methods.
However, he cannot rely solely on this; he must continue to try new methods.
He then looked at the general beside him and said:
"Continue to have the laborers launch earthen assaults, have them transport earth and pile it up at the foot of the capital's city walls, creating a dirt road that allows them to directly rush up the walls."
After issuing this order, Li Qin could foresee what would happen.
The heavy casualties were already immense, with a large number of laborers killed or wounded just for filling in a moat.
Not to mention forcing them to brave a hail of arrows, rush to the city wall, and endure the Wu army's molten metal, rolling logs, and stones to build a dirt road leading to the city wall.
"Go now, pile them up day and night. If you don't have enough laborers, go and recruit more."
Or find prisoners of war; the point is to build a dirt road as quickly as possible.
Li Qin spoke to them again with a serious expression.
"yes."
Faced with Li Qin's orders, the generals could only bow and show their obedience.
Then Li Qin looked at the corpses scattered all over the battlefield that day.
Next, even more corpses will pile up outside the capital city.
But there's no way around it; that's war.
There is no mercy.
In military strategy, siege warfare is considered the lowest form of warfare.
He certainly wanted to use other methods to make the other side surrender without a fight.
But the people inside the city walls on the other side are tough nuts to crack; they've already decided to fight us to the bitter end.
After Li Qin issued his order, the laborers who had been "conscripted" were once again forced to carry soil and rush towards the walls of the capital.
Inside the camp, countless soldiers were also working feverishly to dig tunnels leading to the capital.
Just as Li Qin was attacking the capital.
Li Xuanshang's 40,000-strong Liaodong army, along with nearly 30,000 Jurchen cavalry, also discovered the location of the Xuanfu army.
They also stationed their army directly on the only road they could take to the capital.
Li Xuanshang was very clear that his current task was not to defeat the Xuanfu army.
Instead, they were kept occupied, tied down here, preventing them from aiding the capital.
Behind them, Dugu Yu, following Li Qin's orders, had already detoured outside the pass and raided their hometown from behind.
As long as we raid their homeland and cut off their supply lines, they will naturally collapse without a fight.
Therefore, there's no point in him bringing his main army and the 70,000 elite Xuanfu troops here; it would only result in a mutually destructive outcome.
You see, the 30,000 Jurchens who died were gone, but the 40,000 soldiers under his command were a different story.
Those were all soldiers who fought their way from Liaodong with them.
That was the foundation of their family business, their core elite army.
If these Liaodong veterans suffer too many casualties, they will no longer have their own core elite army to suppress the officials who hold military power.
Now, whether it's the Jurchens, Geng Zhixiang who just surrendered, or Qin Chenyao in Shandong who is stagnant, or Jiang Xiangyang in Datong, they all depend on the armies they command.
Will they either obey orders and surrender, or remain neutral and observe?
If they lose sight of their core army, those guys will immediately change their tune.
So it's better to be safe.
Just wait for Dugu Yu to launch a major flanking maneuver to cut off the enemy's supply lines.
Of course, during this time, he can also take the initiative to harass the other party as much as possible.
Make it impossible for the other party to rest and recuperate, and keep them in a state of fatigue as much as possible.
Just after Li Xuanshang led his army to camp on the road that the Xuanfu army was bound to take.
The Xuanfu army, which was resting, also discovered their presence.
Guo Zifeng, the commander of the Xuanfu army, looked at the intelligence reports sent back by his scouts.
"An army of about 70,000 men appeared in front of us and occupied our only road to the capital."
Moreover, among these 70,000 men, 30,000 were enemy soldiers with shaved heads.
After reading the intelligence above, Guo Zifeng immediately realized that the enemy was the army sent by Li Qin to intercept them.
With 40,000 of their own troops plus 30,000 enemy soldiers, the total force was 70,000.
This is almost equal to the strength of their troops in Xuanfu. Li Qin is really cautious.
However, with Li Qin mobilizing so many troops to guard against them, the pressure on the capital should be greatly reduced.
However, I still need to find a way to break through the enemy lines as soon as possible and head to the capital to provide relief.
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